The Masters Journey
by thelonearcanine
Summary: Giuliano and his friends set out on a journey that will test their battling skills and their trust in one another. They will develop friends and foes along the way, as they aspire to become the best of the best!
1. The Journey Begins

"Jubes, get down already!" A voice yelled my most hated nickname from somewhere downstairs. It didn't sound too happy. I groaned and rolled over in my bead, stuffing my face into my pillow. That was a mistake. It was stale and smelled of sweat, which was when I realised that I had been sweating throughout the entire night. That's when I remembered last night's nightmare. I groaned again and rolled out of bed with a muffled "Umf!" when another voice, this one more masculine than the last, yelled from downstairs.

"C'mon man, Adam, Tristan AND Trevor all have their starters and they're showing off!" At this, I bolted out of my room, locked the bathroom door, took a two minute shower, dried off only using a towel (I hate blow-driers) and changed into my travel gear. I stopped for a minute to look at myself in the mirror. I am wearing a red tank top with a thick grey stripe on the sides, my black fingerless gloves, the top half is black with a white and red stripe cutting it in half, and the bottom is grey, I'm wearing a new pair of jeans, which were being held up by my brand new Pokémon belt that my mom got me for my new journey. I have dark brown eyes and, much to everyone's surprise, snow white hair. My hair Sticks up in every direction, just like my dad's hair.

I should probably tell you a little about myself. I'm twelve and live in a small house with my mom and grandmother. We live in Pallet town, and my grandmother owns the restaurant down the street. Most people say that I'm small for my age, standing at only four-feet-ten, but always marvel at how big my feet and hands are. They never believe me when I tell them that I wear a size nine shoe. I'm also known for my ability to scale trees in a matter of almost five seconds flat.

I have three best friends, Cassandra, Zach and Max. Max's dad is the famous Pokémon watcher, Tracey Sketchit. Max is a little bit taller than me, with a much stockier build. He has thick black hair that is always swept across his forehead from the left to the right. Zach's parents are Dawn and Kenny. Dawn is a world famous Pokémon co-ordinator, and even though neither of his parents has, Zach has blond hair. The one thing that stands out most when you first see Zack is…well…his sheer size! At the age of twelve, my friend was six feet tall, weighing around two-hundred fifty pounds of pure muscle. He once beat my dad's Snorlax in a wrestling match! My last friend is Cassandra. Her parents are May and Drew. She's the only one out of all my friends that's smaller than me. She has jet black hair that reaches her mid-back, chocolate brown eyes and a cute little smile. She loves to read fantasy books and she's the youngest out of the three of us, having only turned eleven yesterday.

As I ran down the stairs, I could hear a sigh of relief coming from Cassie. Even though she already had Luke, she wanted to get going just as much as we did.

"What, you missed me?" I smirked as I jumped the last four steps, landing lightly on my feet without making a sound. That earned me a smack on the head from Your Highness.

"I'm kidding, I'm kidding!" I told her, rubbing the top of my head. Zach chuckled lightly as I grabbed a piece of toast from the table.

"Wha-?" I asked him, my mouth partially stuck together from the PB&J.

"Oh nothing" He replied nonchalantly, and with that we headed out the door.

**X X X**

"Yes, we're here!" I yelled loudly. After twenty minutes of us trudging around town, we arrived at the professors' lab. As we walked through the front door, we noticed some bookshelves and a few scientists working on computers. We continued to walk down the hallway when we came across another door. We knocked and a voice inside told us to come in.

As we stepped through the doorway, the man standing behind the counter glanced at us quickly before his eyes rested on me.

"So, you're Ketchum's son." The statement was directed towards me.

"Um…yeah, Ketchum is my last name." I stated rather densely while Cassandra face-palmed.

"Anyway, I suppose you're here for your first Pokémon, right?"

"Of course!" I jumped, suddenly very excited.

"Good" The professor replied. "I have three starters, one for each of you it seems."

Zach immediately blurted "I call Squirtle!"

"Zach," I scolded "Where are your manners. Ladies first." Both Cassandra and the professor laughed when I said this, and Zach's face turned a light shade of pink. To save him from embarrassment, Cassandra said

"It's all right, I wanted Bulbasaur anyway." She said to no one in particular.

"Woohoo! I get Charmander!" I yelled enthusiastically. We all picked up our respective poke balls and thanked the professor for our pokedexes and poke balls. As we walked out, I asked the professor what his name was and he replied saying,

"Oak. Gary Oak."


	2. Shadow

Okay, forgot to say last time: I don't own Pokémon

As the three pre-teens walked out of the Pokémon lab they couldn't help but wonder who this Gary Oak could have been. They stopped their trek at the edge of the forest, when Giuliano exclaimed,

"Hey, I have an idea!" I was excited to see the looks on their faces when Zach spoke,

"Ahh great, we're all going to die, aren't we. Once an idea hits your head, catastrophe hits everywhere else!"

Both Zach and Cass burst out laughing at this, but I couldn't show them that it hurt, so I told them anyway.

"I was just thinking we let our Pokémon out of their poke balls."

"You know what Ketchum, that isn't such a bad idea." Cassandra was now sharing the eager look that I had plastered to my face. Zach grinned, and with an All right! He threw his poke ball into the air. Out came a little blue turtle, which stood up on his hind legs and had a curled tail.

"Squirtle squirt!" It said, looking excited. It eagerly turned in circles, but upon noticing there were no other Pokémon around, it quickly calmed down, looking upset. Obviously it wanted a battle. Then, it looked up at its trainer with wide, curious eyes. Zach got down on his knees and began to talk to his Squirtle in a soothing voice.

"Hey there little buddy, I'm your trainer. My name's Zach." He cooed lightly. Squirtle didn't take kindly to being treated like a baby, and preceded to smacking Zach upside the head with his tail.

"Ha, you got a feisty one Zach!" Cass laughed at him, releasing her Bulbasaur. Her Pokémon was a small green dinosaur with a plant bulb on its back. It looked around shyly and, noticing Squirtle, it ran behind Cassie's legs. Both Zach and I had to laugh at the scene, when Cass said,

"Shh, guys, you're scaring her!" When Squirtle joined our raucous laughter, Cass got upset.

"You are SO mean!" She yelled at us, and noticing her trainers' frustration, Bulbasaur ran from between her legs, barreling straight into Squirtle. She just stood there, in the middle of the clearing, a wide grin on its tiny face. Now it was Zach's turn to stop laughing, and Cassandra's to start. The look on my friends face caused us to laugh even harder.

"Ok, not cool." He said, while Squirtle picked himself up and dusted himself off.

"Giuliano, why don't you release Charmander, and we can all introduce each other." He added, still clearly annoyed with Cassie's Bulbasaur. That being said, I yelled,

"Come on out buddy, and meet the rest of the gang!" I pressed the button on his poke ball, releasing him. Just as he appeared in front of us, he was gone in a flash, hiding in the shadows.

"Holy mother of Arce-"

Zach was cut off by Cassandra hitting his arm.

"Ow, that hurt" He whined. He complained a lot for such a big kid. Meanwhile, I was searching the surrounding area for Charmander.

"Guys, I can't find him anywhere, where do you think he went?"I asked concern obvious on my features.

We continued looking, and about five minutes later, I noticed a flicker of light in one of the trees shadows.

"Hey there buddy, come on out. I won't hurt you. My name is Giuliano, I'm your trainer, and partner." I pulled some poke Chow from my backpack and held my hand out close to the ground. Slowly, but surely, the Pokémon inched its way out of the trees shadow. That's when I noticed something was wrong. With the flame on his tail, even in the shadows, I should have been able to see his bright red body. But all I could see were his eyes. Instead of the normal blue, they were a piercing shade of green. That's when he emerged from the shadow.

"Oh. My. Mew!" I whispered.

"Hey there little fella. I'm going to introduce you to my friends now." I told him, not even knowing if he could understand me.

"Giuliano, where'd you go?" A voice called from a few meters into the trees on my left. I was still crouched down in front of my partner Pokémon. There was some rustling behind me as both Zach and Cass burst into the little area. I heard both of them intake their breath sharply, and without moving from my position, I stated, to no one in particular,

"Shadow"


	3. The Man with the Black Charizard

Chapter 3

Zach just stood there with his mouth hanging open, and Cassie put her hand on my shoulder. Shadow just looked at us, curiosity present in his shining green orbs.

"Jay, what's wrong with him?" she asked, "Is he sick or something?" She wasn't trying to insult him; I could sense the genuine concern in her voice. Nobody spoke for a couple of seconds, before I decided to break it.

"Let's get back to the lab, I need to speak to the professor." And with that, we reversed our treck into the forest, emerging in front of the famous lab.

**X X X**

_Finally! I could finally get some peace and quiet around here. Max finally left on his journey with Storm _(His Dratini)_ Hm, maybe I should go feed Ash's Pokémon, _I thought to myself. I was just heading out back when the doorbell rang.

"Coming!" I yelled, thinking, _who could that be?_

I opened the front door and before me stood the three young trainers from before. Before I could stop myself, I blurted out (rather rudely)

"What are you doing back here?" The three hesitated. Then, the boy with the white hair, Ash's son if I remembered correctly, spoke up.

"We need to speak with you professor." He sounded worried and… anxious?

"Sure" I replied blatantly, allowing them to come in. I told them to take a seat in the living room while I got them each something to drink. I arrived back in the room to see the tall kid, whose name I couldn't remember, and the boys' friend, Cassie, looking at Jay with worried expressions. The white hired boy just stared at the ground dejectedly.

"So, why do you need to speak to me on such short notice" I asked. Jay took a deep breath, and tossed a poke ball into the air. There was no enthusiasm in his movements.

From the poke ball came a sight I thought I would never see.

"No. Freaking. Way." I muttered under my breath. It was silent for a few moments, until Cass broke the silence.

"Professor, sir, is there something wrong with Charmander? Is he sick?" She asked.

"No, he's not sick at all. In fact, if you pay close attention, his tail is larger than those of most Charmanders. If you also took care to pay attention, he is way too quick for his level and strong for his level." I told them carefully. "And there is a reason for this." I began to explain.

"A long time ago, there was a legend of a Pokémon that was born different. It wasn't the usual coloring of its breed. It was a black Charmander."

"But professor, aren't black Charizards just shiny?" Zach asked, obviously confused.

"Yes, but Charmander and Charmeleon are yellow when shiny. And no more interruptions!" replied Professor Oak.

"So, this Charmander lived alone in the middle of a forest, until the day HE found him. This man's name is still unknown to this day, but it I said that his most prominent feature was his pure white hair. The man and his Charmander bonded very quickly, and became the best of friends. Together, they grew to become an inseparable pair. What was intriguing about this era was that people were frightened of Pokémon, and believed them to be vicious monsters. The man and the Charmander proved to the people that Pokémon can be trusted, and he became the first Pokémon Master. He was also the only Pokémon master to have never been defeated. When he became old, and was close to death, he made a prophesy, that one day, when the world was in extreme peril, one of his descendents would reunite with one of The black Charizards descendants, and they would save the world from mass destruction."

The three new trainers were looking at me with awe shining clear on their faces.

"Anyway, on a different note, Jay, I want you to follow me. I have another surprise for you." I wasn't exactly sure why, but I had a feeling he would need this. He and his friends followed me outside into the reserve, where I went into a little metal cabin. I told them to wait outside. When I came back out, I was holding two young Pichus in my arms. They were twins, the boy only slightly larger than his sister and with a small tuft of hair on his head.

"This is Buzz," I told him, handing him the male Pichu, "And this is Arina," I told his huge friend.

"Jay, the reason I am giving you Buzz, is because your fathers first Pokémon was a Pikachu. Zach, your fathers first Pokémon was also a Pikachu, as you should well know. Well, just before your father went missing, Jay, his Pikachu had two eggs, with Ritchie's Pikachu, Sparky. (In The Masters Journey, Ash's Pikachu is female.) These two hatched not long ago, and it is only right that you two should have them, because, they are rightfully yours." The two boys were thoroughly shocked at this point.

"Holy Mew!" Their female companion yelled, "If these two Pichu are SPARKY's offspring, they must be INSANE powerful!" She yelled in obvious envy. I was quite shocked, and in my surprise asked,

"How do you know so much about breeding?" I still couldn't grasp at how a twelve year old knew what I learned at the age of seventeen. That when an egg hatched, it would know some more powerful moves of the father.

"Umm…well, Delia taught me a fair amount about Pokémon breeding, with the help of Uncle Brock of course!" she said, slightly timidly. Ah. That explained it. That's when I noticed the two boys looked completely perplexed.

"I should probably explain, when Pokémon have eggs, the hatchlings take their fathers attacks and their normally mothers nature, although sometimes they get natures of their own. No one has figured out why this phenomenon happens, but it does. Scan the twins with your pokedexes and find out what I mean." I explained to them, I didn't get into extreme detail, so as not to confuse them.

Jay scanned Buzz, and Dexter started to explain everything about the little tyke.

_Pichu, the tiny electric mouse Pokémon; the pre-evolution of Pikachu, this Pokémon loves to play. This particular Pichu has a Naïve nature and is astoundingly determined. Pichu's attacks are _

_-Thunderbolt -Thundershock and -Volt tackle_

At the same time, Zach's pokedex told him;

_Pichu, the tiny electric mouse Pokémon; the pre-evolution of Pikachu, this Pokémon may be small, but it can store up to 10,000 volts of electricity in its cheek pouches. This Pichu has a bold nature, and will rush into anything to protect its loved ones. Pichu's attacks are_

_-Thunderbolt –Thundershock and -Volt tackle_

"Aw come on! That is SOO unfair!" Cassie stomped in frustration, as the boys simply stood there with their mouths gaping open, shocked for what felt like the hundredth time that day.

**Man, I'm finally done this chapter. I've decided to change Giuliano's name to Jay, I like Jay more. Next chapter, I will post the family tree for my all of my characters (I have over 30 characters! OVER 30 FREAKING CHARACTERS!) For anybody who asks, call me Steven. So ya, I hope I get some reviews!**

**Steve Out!**


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